Where is Jack Ma? The Chinese billionaire and founder of the e-commerce giant Alibaba, has managed to keep himself out of public scrutiny fir over two years now. After reports of him touring through Europe surfaced earlier in July this year, it seems Ma has hunkered down in Tokyo, Japan where he has reportedly been dabbling in the art world.
Ma disappeared from the public after Beijing's crackdown on the technology sector. The Alibaba Group Holding Ltd co-founder and once the top leader of China's tech sector, Ma relinquished his stake in his business empire.
His positioning as an emerging tech oligarch was perceived as a threat by the Chinese leadership, which carried out an extensive crackdown on China's thriving private sector. Ma's criticism of government regulations became a point of contention between the entrepreneur and the government and derailed the initial public offering (IPO) of Ant Group Co., an affiliate company that Ma founded and was part of the Alibaba empire.
Ant Group was set to raise US$34.5 billion in the world's largest IPO at the time which would have propelled the company value to at US$313 billion. However, on the eve of the IPO, China put a stop to it. It was reported that Chinese Community Party leader Xi Jinping had himself scuttled the deal at the last minute.
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As per reports in July, Ma held Ma 50.52 percent voting rights in Ant. In a filing by the Alibaba group earlier this year, it reiterated that Ma intended to "reduce and thereafter limit his direct and indirect economic interest in Ant Group over time” to a percentage that does not exceed 8.8 per cent, Bloomberg reported in July. In the same months, Chinese authorities reportedly gave a tentative green light to Ant Group to revive its IPO plans in both Shanghai and Hong Kong.
Ma's decision to cede control over Ant Group is believed to be motivated by his wish to avoid further trouble with China and the move seems to have gone down well with Beijing, judging by his quiet appearance in Tokyo's socialite circles.
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As per a report in The Financial Times, Ma has been living in Tokyo for the past six months and has become an avid collector of modern art. He has been making appearances at a number of exclusive members-only clubs around Tokyo's Ginza and Marunouchi districts. The paper also noted that the Chinese
entrepreneur brought along his own personal security staff and chef.
Ma, who is a close friend of Tokyo-based SoftBank Group Corp founder Masayoshi Son, has been making regular trips to US and Israel during his stay, FT reported. Son was an early investor in Alibaba.
Prior to his retreat from the spotlight, Ma had been a familiar face in China's business as well as philanthropic circles. During the Covid-19 pandemic, Ma was at the forefront of driving donation campaigns to provide protective gear and equipment to those in need across the world. Through his campaigns, he managed to send supplies to over 150 nations. In hindsight, his growing international popularity as a philanthropic tech billionaire is perhaps what first put him in the crosshairs of what a 2020 BBC report touted as the "jealous" top rungs of the Chinese leadership pyramid.
Known as the founder of "the Amazon of the East", Alibaba's humble beginnings from his small apartment, his image as the effervescent English teacher and philanthrope have now become the stuff of tech lore. Though he ceded control of Alibaba in 2018 and said he wanted to focus more on philanthropy and the Jack Ma Foundation, Ma had remained a powerful face in China's financial market until the Chinese government's incursions scuttled the Alibaba empire.
